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Shine: The Circles Quilt
66″ square
First block started June 2014 • Top finished June 2015

I’ve finished my quilt top and am happy to release it into the wilds world today. I started sewing these English Paper Piecing patterns after I’d finished Kaleidoscope and needed a new hand project. I was also sick of straight lines, and though I’d do some circles. Those of you who have followed along know that I took a lot of inspiration for the circles from a church my husband and I had visited while traveling in Slovenia, the art which found its way into fabric.

I named it Shine because of all those circles, those suns, those compass points, radiating out from the quilt. I could see this all done up in solids, too. I’ve seen a few of your starting your project. Please tag me on IG (occasionalpiecequilt) or drop me an email with a photo so I can see what you’ve begun.

I’ve now completed the instructions for this quilt, and have priced it at six dollars for a PDF download. It is in my Craftsy Store, listed as Shine: Circles Quilt Finishing Instructions and is available for purchase, so you too can finish off your quilt.

I know I haven’t released the last circles — numbers 13 to 16 — yet (well, you have one of them), but I’ve made up a pattern for the final four, which is also on my Craftsy store if you can’t wait through the end of summer to get them all. The Final Four Blocks from Shine (I made the pattern earlier) is also priced at six dollars, for a PDF download.

I’ve loved creating these and sharing them for free, so I hope you’ve enjoyed grabbing them and making them. At some point in the future, I’ll start moving the downloads to Craftsy, as I’m trying to gather all my patterns there for ease in locating them. Sometimes it gets hard to navigate blogs, even with the excellent search engine that my blog software provides.

Where did I get the inspiration for the finishing? One day when I was walking around San Diego, I looked up and saw the facade of the building and thought, aha! — those crosses with circles would be perfect in between my circles. I ended up leaving off the circles as my quilt had a lot going on and they were just too much. Your quilt may be different, so you decide (the option is in the pattern).

And the border? I started here, in this archway from the church in Slovenia, with those triangles. But again, I wanted my circles — and all that handwork — to stand out, so I simplified it with trapezoidal pieces in between the triangles.

Now to quilt this, a good summer project since we’ll be local most of the time. I’ll find the next Inspector Gamache book (I heard a new one is coming out in August) and sew my brains out. Can’t think of a better thing to be doing when it’s scorching outside. The tutorials for the final patterns will post regularly throughout the summer, but feel free to grab those final block patterns early, if you want to get going on them.

Thanks for all your support and EPP love while I’ve been working on this project. Happy Piecing!

Cindy, of LiveAColorfulLife, called me up one day and said she had a great idea and a great name for a bee: Mid-Century Modern Bee, and that everyone had to be at least mid-century in age. Maybe it was the exasperation I felt that all the newbies were claiming invention of tried and true blocks and methods, or that I was ready for another bee, or that Cindy’s charm could not be turned down, but I jumped at the chance to be a part of this new group. We’ve been going strong for three years, so I’m dividing this post into parts, and am grouping them by the participant, rather than going through the calendar years. We now have a blog, courtesy of Susan and PatchnPlay, so I guess you could say we are all grown up. I wanted a place where all our blocks, quilts, and tutorials could be listed; you’ll find links to many tutorials of these blocks, so have fun browsing. The first project we did was Carla’s Church Dash quilt, with the tutorial found *here.* The next year, Carla (Lollyquiltz) had us make another block churn dash block for her, and the beautiful quilt above is the result. Carla is still working on this year’s batch of blocks, a birthday cake block using *this* tutorial. This bee also does signature blocks, which I love, and you can see the array at the top of her pin wall. My birthday cake block is the blueberry with mint filling, as one of the fun things she had us do was list what “kind” of cake we would make for her. If you use the tutorial, remember to set your print scaling settings at 100% so your block will be 12″ square. Cindy thought for her first turn, she would do the Winged Square Block with the tutorial found *here.* When I sent around the letter asking for photos of blocks/quilt tops/quilts, she sent me a photo of all the blocks together. For her second round, she fell in love with Rene’s spiderweb block (another member in our bee) and decided she wanted one too. This became common–we are so well matched that we borrow ideas for each other regularly, tweaking them slightly. We used *this tutorial* for these blocks. Using *this* tutorial, and again borrowing from Rene’, Cindy went with a rainbow Dresden plate, with a black and white center. Unlike the Always Bee Learning Bee, we make from our stash, not sending out fabrics to each other. It is fun to see how many of us have the same fabrics. Her last request was matched by another bee she is participating in, so her design wall was flooded with circles. Debbie, of A Quilter’s Table, asked for a variation of the Hugs and Kisses Block, but done in soft hues and colors (aka “Low Volume”). Her stunning completed quilt, above, titled Common Affection, has gone on to be published and to win ribbons. I love that blue wall, as it really shows off the low volume fabric choices. Debbie’s next block (in 2014) was a pair of rolling diamond blocks, from *this tutorial.* Here’s all the blocks together. She’s going to make a few more to even out the quilt. Rene’ of Rene Creates, and who inspires many of us with choosing blocks, asked us for a spiderweb block (tutorial link found above), but in scrappy fabrics. She made this cool quilt with the colors moving all around–a real scrappy treat. She took it with her when the family did Christmas photographs together; I love the setting. Her 2014 block was this cool-in-blues-and-greens Dresden block (tutorial listed above). She laid them all out on her bed to show us how they look together. Because of different printing sizes, they range from smaller to larger. She plans to place them scattered across a solid background for her quilt. Deborah, Simply Miss Luella, asked for house blocks, and here are a few. Mine is in the upper left; link to the blog post about it, with the pattern is *here.* You can find her on Instagram. I made this house for Linda, drawing from my collection of free house patterns that I had worked up for my in-town sewing group. The reason she asked for houses, is that her house burnt to the ground, and she lost everything shortly before Thanksgiving of the year she was with our group. We all made houses, our hearts going out to her as she worked hard to rebuild her life. (to be continued)

Here’s my Snapshot Quilt, in the requisite rustic pose drooping over a gate with rusty wheelbarrow. Go yard work for great props.

This is the third and final post in my tutorial of how to make the Snapshot Quilt, constructed from lots of Polaroid blocks. And at the end, my little giveaway. I have three sets of 10 blocks each to giveaway, but hey! you must be a serious Polaroid-er to get them. Leave me a comment telling me what you’ll do with them–have you started your collection? Do you have a few and want more? Do you have plans for them? And for fun, tell me about your favorite vacation photo, since this quilt is, after all, a tribute to vacation photos everywhere.

Here’s a close-up of some of the Polaroids. I received the truck Polaroid in the swap. Love it!

And that German-looking couple on the right was cut from my Barbie-doll dress.

Now back to work. I have made a PDF to help guide you with cutting, and it includes the basic bones of the quilt. Download it: PolaroidQuilt

Start throwing up blocks onto your pin wall. This was my first attempt. I knew I wanted a stacked coins effect, but was playing around with inserting blocks into the middle of the stacks. Meh.

Second try. I like this one better, but not keen about the four blue blocks across the top, so I switched them around. Check the previous post for the doctors-office-view of the quilt, which shows how I ended up arranging all my blocks. I also checked to make sure that there wasn’t a glob of orangey-red blocks, or too many of one type or color.

After getting the blocks the way you like them, sew them together. My row tags, made from embroidery holders, indicate which row it is, and which is the top. I pinned them all together in a row, then stitched them.

Cutting the white internal strips and borders:Internal rows are 4 x 52″ (w/o s.a.) so cut three strips that are 4-1/2″ by 52-1/2″. I’d STRONGLY advise cutting them on grain, that is, cut them parallel to the selvages of your white fabric. All these double-Polaroid blocks are slightly on the bias, so they need the strong stable edges of an on-grain piece of fabric.

Matching centers and edges, ease the stacked quilt blocks onto the white on-grain strip of white fabric. Repeat until four rows of stacked quilt blocks and three strips of white fabric are sewn together. I sewed the seam with the quilt blocks to the throat plate of my sewing machine, allowing the motion of the feed dogs to help ease in any extra fabric.

Sew on the first top border, then the bottom. Then, matching centers and edges, sew on the side borders as you did above, keeping the white strip UP and the quilt block stack to the feed dogs. Press seams toward quilt blocks.

Attach the print borders next in this order: top, bottom, side, side. I was exacting on the lengths and matching edges and centers, but I should have given a little more ease to the side borders. It’s a challenge sometimes, as you don’t want to get the borders too small so that the quilt “bows” with a curved edge, but you also don’t want it so loosey-goosey that it ripples. Pin and check, is my advice. Then press the seams toward the print fabric.

Lastly, attach the last white borders in the same order: top, bottom, side, side. Press toward the second (print) border.

You’re done!

How do I plan to quilt this? I’m thinking I’d first stabilize those long stacks with either stitching in the ditch white white thread, or a quarter-inch away into the white. I’d like to outline along the Polaroids to make them pop. The white sections call out for some sort of overall pattern, like this pattern from Leah Day of Free-Motion Quilting, Bow-tie Parade:

Go and visit Leah’s site for lots of ideas and a stimulating blog. I love reading her posts. I do plan to bind this with more of that print shown in my border.

Now! Leave a message if you are interested in scooping up some of my Polaroid blocks, and mention what you’ll do with them–have you started your collection? Do you have a few and want more? Do you have plans for them? And for fun, tell me about your favorite vacation photo, since this quilt is, after all, a tribute to vacation photos everywhere.

Mine favorite vacation photo is from when Dave and I were newly married (under a year) and we took all the kids to Zion National Park. We are standing there in the middle of red rock country in our slightly dirty T-shirts, a group of 2 adults and 4 children who were on their way to becoming a family. Now let me hear about yours.

UPDATE: Congrats to the winners of the Polaroid Blocks: Mary, Cindy and Marilyn. I’ll look forward to seeing what they do with their blocks, so send those photos over to my email when that future finish day arrives.

First, let me say a thank you to Lee of Freshly Pieced Fabrics, who is hosting WIP Wednesday for us. Click *here* to return to her blog and see other fabulous Works-in-Progress.

If you missed yesterday’s post about Snapshot, my latest quilt (above), scroll down as there is information for fabric requirements and a basic How-To for Polaroid Blocks.

The first picture (top) is Snapshot in a beauty pose. This one (above) is the one where she’s in under the fluorescent lights in her doctor’s office, wearing only a flimsy gown that opens in the back. You know the feeling. But we need to examine the quilt to see how it’s put together, so I thought you needed a clinical kind of picture. Here you can see some of the variety in the tilting, and in stacking the blocks. I had some scraps of fabric at the end and late one night made the one at the bottom left into two colors. (I should go to bed earlier, I think.)

I did these in sets. You’ll end up making about 4 sets, alternating the blue fabric with the green fabric (only use one color at a time), as each stack is made up of 13 blocks. However, I made a few more of each color, because I doubled up on some colors for variety (you can see it above where there are two blue blocks together). So make 4 1/2 sets.For each set of 13 double blocks, you’ll need:
8 strips of either blue or green (don’t mix), cut 1 and 1/2″ wide
2 strips of either blue of green (don’t mix), cut 1 and 1/4″ wide
26 Polaroid blocks, in pairs of two (take some time to match up the ones you want together)

Start by sewing the Polaroid blocks to to the wider (1 and 1/2″) strip, placing Polaroids face down. You are sewing this to the TOP of the blocks.

Lay out the strip of blocks and cut the blocks apart. With scissors. Remember those? We finished up our discussion of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Your Brains in class, and the last section talked about tools; when we adapt and adopt a tool, it become an extension of us and we may leave older tools behind if the new one suits us better. So if you feel like the rotary cutter is an extension of your hand, you may need to practice using scissors again. Kidding.

Press the fabric away from the block, like this:

Now sew another wide strip on the bottom of your Polaroids.

Here’s four blocks, with the top and bottom borders sewn. Again, you are using the 1 and 1/2″ width fabric.

Lay out a strip of the narrower fabric (1 and 1/4″) and place your blocks side by side, matching up your pairs. Separate them by about 1/4″ at the bottom. I pinned them so it would be easier to transfer to the sewing machine. Sew the first set (one side) onto the center strip. You should be able to get about 7 Polaroids per strip.

As you sew on the first set, pay attention matching the edge of the Polaroid block to the edge of the center strip, letting those little bits of borders stick out. You can cut them off in an earlier stage if you need to, but I did mine after sewing them.

NOW trim off the little edges if they bug you. For sure, trim off the big overhangs! Just lay out the strip as shown, and cut the overhangs off, even with the long strip. DO NOT CUT THEM APART!!! Let me repeat. DO NOT CUT THEM APART!!

Now, take your “right leaning” and “left leaning” PDF printouts from the last post, and set one of them at a time on the table while you do the next step. I made all the greens to lean to the LEFT. All my blues lean to the RIGHT. It feels backwards, but here we go. I used the picture to get in my mind which Polaroid should be 1/4″ up and which one should be 1/4″ (or the width of that top border) down as I’m lining them up along that center strip.

Notice in this high-quality illustration that the blocks lean to the right. To accomplish this, you have to offset them when you sew them to the center strip. The left block is “lower” on the strip, and the block on the right side is “higher.” This is why I used two colors: to keep things straight.

But my greens tilt the OTHER way, so I used the “left leaning” diagram to help me.

(Diagram in action!)

Again, to get the tilt, you need to jog the one on the top down about one-fourth inch. What I did was line up the edge of the green border with the top of my center picture in my Polaroid block. (I know this sounds confusing, so just look at the pictures.) This will give you that offset you need in order to tilt your block. Do this with the remainder of your pairs. Pin, then stitch.

When working with the blue, I reversed the sewing, stitching the blocks on the right-hand side of the center strip first, then the left.

Here it is sewn. You can really see the slipped alignment here. Press this seam toward the center strip. See two steps down, for the why of pressing.

Cut these blocks apart now; the cut will be angled to fit the skewed alignment.

Here’s one that’s been cut apart after sewing. Here you can see the shift.

And in comparing these two blocks (the one directly above and the one below), you can see the difference the pressing makes. The pressed edges can either make a block look like it’s resting on the top or like it’s “sunken” into the strips surrounding it. I wanted my Polaroids to have that look of being bordered by strips, not the strips “supporting” and “lifting” up the Polaroids. So that’s why all the pressing directions indicate which way to press the seams.

Here you can see the different pressing. All right Goldilocks, you are through the deep scary forest and just about to claim that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

You should have 13 blocks that look like this. Now comes more fun, more forest.

Get out that PDF picture again. Lay it at the top while you trim your blocks. The size you want to trim to is 4 1/2″ by 7 1/2″.

You need to tilt your ruler a bit, making sure you leave at least 1/2″ space between the edge of your white Polaroid interior block and the planned cutting line on the outside edge of your ruler. (This is why you make extra blocks, if you get my drift.) I tried to vary my cuts, because I think one of the charm of these Polaroid blocks is their wonkiness when set into their frames, much like a child would paste vacation photos into an album. So sometimes I was just over 1/2″ from that edge, and other times I was closer to 3/4″.

Keep at eye on that 4 1/2 line, as well as the 7 1/2″ line. Be a juggler, keeping all these things in mind as you go for your first cut, slicing off the top of the block. Then flip it around, putting the cut edge at the bottom.

Lay the 4 1/2″ line of your ruler at the bottom, lining up your freshly cut edge. Check your measurements. You want the bottom lined up, but you also have to check that the block is centered so when you cut off that right side, you’ll have an evenly centered 7 1/2″ block. If you are good to go, slice off that right-hand side.

At first, I flipped it around again, as I’d only have to pay attention to one last side (shown above). But after a while I became confident enough to slice off the top, >flip<, slice off the right and top edges again, then >flip< cut the last edge off. Which is what I’m doing in the picture above.

I took this photo mid-cutting to show you how the block can feel skitty-wampus when you look at the first two cuts. But then you slice off the two side edges and you are Through The Forest Again! In the arrangement of my quilt, I used 28 blue double-Polaroid blocks and 24 green. Make enough that you have some to play around with, and if you like decorations on the back of your quilts, include some for that too.

NEXT POST: Putting the quilt top together, and one day closer to my surprise giveaway.

This is a continuation of what-I’m-calling the Portuguese Tile Quilt, a free quilt pattern from *here.* I arranged my pieces on the board so that no two fabrics were in any block, meaning in the blue quadrants, they were different from each other and the pink quadrants also had fabrics different from each other. I didn’t care so much if the pinks imitated the blues, but I did watch out for strong fabrics in the same block (like that “plaid”).

To sew these blocks together, flip the right-hand side of the block onto the left-hand side, then place the top two on the bottom two and stack them on your sewing surface. That’s my confusing method; you’ll probably develop your own. The basic idea is to get the quilt block, which is now in four pieces, over to your sewing machine in some semblance of order.

So, on the top, is the right-hand upper piece flipped over on the left-hand upper piece.

On the left on the bottom, is the similar pair. I have no idea what that other bit is doing–just hanging out? Quilt blocks are buddies and they seem to like to do that.

Sew the center seams on those pairs, then press the fabric toward the black pinwheel on all of them.

Here’s my little trick. I sewed these pairs in a chain, then left the pairs that went together hooked in the middle, but cut the chain into “two’s.” Then when I go the ironing board, I don’t have to match them all up again. They’re already joined. Flop them right-sides together.

Sew that seam across the two blocks. I found that if I took the step of going to the ironing board to press toward the pinwheel, I could get away without pinning this thing to death, or eliminating the pins altogether. The block kind of fits together because of the directional pressing. It’s not perfect, though, so if you are all about perfection, get out the pins.

Head to the ironing board, and clip that little joining thread, and liberate any others that might keep you from opening up that center “flower” of seams. As you work with it, you’ll be able to figure out the tiny clips of threads here and there. Don’t cut any of the fabric, please, just the seam-threads.

You want that center to lay down into a flower. I put my thumb on the center, and applying pressure, give the whole thing a twist, flattening out the seams.

Then press from the front. Even without using pins, I think that center join looks pretty good.

Lay out your first row on your pin wall. Then you want to add to it, lining up your blocks so there’s no obvious repeats or clashes. This part goes quickly. In fact, the whole quilt went quickly: one week from cutting to sewing on the borders.

Stand back and see what is “clumping together” and needs to be separated, like squabbling children. I find taking photos helpful.

The blocks I moved are not really noticeable, but calmed down the arrangement for me. Don’t fuss with this too much, just keep moving forward.

If you pay attention, you won’t sew a block on the WRONG end of the row, like I did up there on the left. Unpick. Re-sew.

You’ve seen this before, but it’s really fun to show off a completed quilt top, isn’t it?

Feeling blissful over here. I’ve already pinned it to the backing, and after I finish grading their argument terms tests, making up the next essay assignment, writing the peer review for the current essay, creating the rubric for evaluating their rhetoric presentation, writing another blog post for the class, and calling my mother, I plan to start quilting it.

When I was at our sewing group, Lisa brought out her “house” quilt, the earliest group quilt that we’d attempted together. You saw hers. Here’s mine:

We had the common fabrics to use of the fairy print (on navy) and the pink striped (shown in some of the houses).

And here we are: Tracy, Lisa, Susan (who has moved away) and me, all holding up our quilt squares. I love how they are all laid around the sofa everywhere. And I love seeing that houses quilt in the background (#14 on my 100 quilts list, made 10 years earlier in 1988).

Detail. I wanted it to have bits and pieces of a neighborhood so I included those things in each deep border above and below the houses. I guess at the time it had significance, as I notice some World Wide Web fabric there (the earth globe above). The internet was just getting popular then — seems like a millenium ago.

This one’s my house. I guess my fairy was tired and lay down on the front walkway.

Label.

I entered into Road to California in 2000; here’s what I wrote on the entry form:

As I was designing all the houses, I tried to include a wide variety of styles, to illustrate the diversity of a street in Heaven, a celestial neighborhood that would be knit together in love and faith. In the upper and lower borders, I placed activities that the people in the houses might do: getting together with friends, outdoor activities, celebrating holidays, and of course, quilting. The name of this quilt comes from an old saying that explains that when a child is given a home, “Joy-bells ring in Heaven’s street.”

You know those things you buy at quilt shows, like the panel above. Whenever are you going to use them, if not for backs?

Okay, here’s a few of the houses. The links underneath each illustration are templates for each house. They are PDF download files, but I’d ask you to remember that since I was a novice at this software at that time, they aren’t perfect. Some have a lot of pieces, others are more streamlined. A mix is best, if you’re making a village.

Krista received her Far Flung Bee Blocks, so now I can write about them. Like a pregnancy, I figure it’s not my news to tell, so I like to let them do the Woo-hoo! thing and then I’ll follow up. Since I’ve only done In-Real-Life Swaps, it’s probably all wrong, like when I sent in my Polaroids. . . Whoops, did it all wrong.

She wanted a wonky house. And trees, if you please.

But I thought about how she recently got engaged, and so I drew from a quilt I’d made a couple of years ago (one block is up in my blog header), and made her a block that featured a heart made of two houses. Aw. I’m of the mind you should always celebrate love. Especially “goofy love,” as Krista refers to it. (I remember those days with great fondness.)

This is Number 68 on my 100 Quilts List. A version of this quilt was on the cover of a quilt magazine some time ago, and I had searched my hard drive for the downloaded file, but couldn’t find it. I started drafting it again, then tried the internet. No luck. Finally it was in the last place I looked. (Sorry for the wobbly lower edge — for the photo, I had it on a quilt rack extended yea-high and the wind interfered.)

Here’s my PDF of the block that has all four blocks–click to download: heart_houses

They show it for paper piecing, but no way was I going to do that. The blocks on my quilt are about 12″ on the short side because I wanted JUMBO houses in among my pine trees. I took it to the local copy shop and blew up the PDF and taped the pattern pieces together. I just cut them out and use the pieces as a pattern, sometimes just measuring then cutting.

I made the long blocks for the border sort of randomly, first making the tree tops, then gauging how long those trunks needed to be to fit.

I backed it with some Mary Lou Weidman fabric.

That was the year I was in charge of a camp for young women ages 12-18, which was held up in the pines in the San Bernardino forest near Big Bear Lake. It’s a LOT of work, and I was working with a camp director who I found out later was brilliant in working with recalcitrant teenagers, but not so brilliant in doing the grunt work that has to be done to get a camp organized. Her team was also untested, but were very strong-willed about what should and shouldn’t be done. I had been to a similar camp when I was a girl, had gone back as an adult counselor for several years, so I came at it from a different angle. Needless to say, that was a challenging spring as we tried to quash all our personality quirks in order to get the camp planned.

And on top of all that, it was my only my third semester teaching at a community college, and they’d given me a new level of class to figure out, and I felt like I was nearly underwater all the time just on that issue.

So, what else to quilters do? They make a quilt. I called this Hearts in the Pines. I finished the top and with only a few weeks to go, the semester ending, I called my quilter and she did stitch-in-the-ditch to stabilize the quilt. I stitched the binding on, but didn’t have time to sew it down. I took it to camp and in the few free minutes I had in between kitchen crises (oh, didn’t I tell you that two of the cooks backed out at the last minute and so I was in the kitchen too?), visiting with the girls, my husband (who I’d recruited to join me) and my angel daughter who drove in from Arizona with a friend to help her mom, I finished stitching around the quilt to get that binding on. And much later, I finished the quilting around all the houses and trees.

I always like how quilts have a story behind them. Whether it’s just one of those quick quilts that you throw together for a baby shower, or one that represents a time in your life, the story — I believe — makes the quilt. Just like Krista will hopefully remember the summer she was engaged, when she looks at the quilt she made from a few wonky heart blocks.

Every June the jacaranda trees put on their bluey-purple-periwinkle display of flowers, and we all wander around wondering how we got to be lucky.

And like clockwork, every June they dominate my photos — exquisitely colored blossoms on hills, around bends while the rest of the year these trees blend into the landscape.

And I’m heading to a class with Becky Goldsmith (the designer of the quilt I did last year: Come A-Round) and we’re doing a flower in class, so I chose a night-blooming plant for color inspiration for fabrics to pull. This comes from the Sherwin-Williams paint website “Chip It,” where you load up a URL of a photo and they provide their colors. I just like how it looks, and it helped me pull from my stash.

So when it came time to decide on a block for the Far-Flung Bee, that was easy: a flower. I also wanted something of simple construction (9-patch) because of my fabric requrements–I wanted some fabrics with text to be incorporated into the blossom.

Here are two versions of that tulip/flower block, and the text fabric is used two different ways; one is in the background fabrics and the other is included in parts of the flower. That green fabric saying Blah Blah Blah is a treasure for me as my friends Bert and Rhonda sent it to cheer me after my surgery in December. I’ll always think of them when I use those fabrics (thanks, guys!). So here’s how to do it.

For one 9-inch flower block:
Cut four 3 1/2″ squares–3 from the background fabric, 1 from the flower fabric
Cut four 3 7/8″ squares–2 from the background fabric, 1 from the flower fabric, 1 from the leaf fabric
Cut one 2″ by 3 1/2″ rectangle from the background fabric
Cut two 2″ squares–1 from the background fabric and 1 from the stamen fabric

Working with the 3 7/8″ squares ONLY, place one background square on each of the flower and leaf blocks. Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner, or if you have the Quick Quarter tool (shown above), draw a line on either side. You’ll stitch just inside this line (towards the center), or if you have drawn a single diagonal line, you’ll stitch a SCANT quarter-inch seam on either side of your drawn line.

Cut from corner to corner, inbetween your stitching.

Press the seam allowance away from the background triangle, as shown. Notice those dog ears on the corners? We’ll cut them off later.

Working with the 2″ square blocks and the one rectangle now. Seam the stamen fabric block to other 2″ background fabric block. If you’re like me and getting up and down to the ironing board gets tiresome, just finger press that seam towards the stamen fabric. Then seam the rectangle onto this unit. Okay, now go to the ironing board and press that flat.

Lay everything out. Smile, because it looks cute. AND it’s fast! Seam them together in rows, working across the block. Keep track of which direction that bottom leaf goes. I did it wrong twice.

Now it’s time to trim off those dog ears. (I actually trim them as I seam the pieces together, not waiting until a final moment, but this is just a reminder to get them off now). I use that old fashioned tool that works so well: scissors. Snip snip snip while holding it over the trash can.

I’ve flipped it over to show the directions for pressing. Basically you want to have the seams going in opposite directions so they’ll “nestle” together when you go to sew the rows. Lay it out again, the sew the final seams, joining the rows. Double check that bottom row twice, so you don’t sew it in wrong (like I did).

You’re finished with one block. Eat Your Vegetables, by laying a ruler over it and truing up the block to 9 1/2″. It will sew down to a finished 9″ block in your quilt.

Here’s a mock-up of one layout, using 1″ sashing and corner squares. I’ve also thought that since it’s based on an easy nine-patch block, that a grouping could be made of half-sized (4 1/2″ finished) blocks that could be interspersed for a more random look. That’s for another day.

First, download my scrappy stars paper piecing template by clicking on the link (NOT the picture). It should measure 10 inches from tip to tip when you print it out.

A tip I learned from Becky Goldsmith is to print out your paper piecing templates on vellum paper. I bought a package some time ago from my local paper store, so I went to the copy center and printed ONE copy of the diamond. Then I pulled the original off the platen glass and checked it for size. Yep. Same size. I wanted to make about eight stars (and there are six diamonds in each star), so I printed off 60 copies — about ten more diamonds than I needed, just in case.

Okay, so PANIC! When starting a new process or project, I can feel overwhelmed by it all. But then I said to myself, just choose six fabrics that go somewhat together, in fact the less they go together the better it will be. That’s all, then you can take it from there. I chose fabrics, laid them out, liked them. I cut 3″ squares for the two tips, then I cut the rests of the strips 2 1/2 inches wide by 6 1/2″ long. Yes, I know that’s way wide, but I liked some squoosh room when working with them.

Line up two at first, peeking through the parchment template to line them up straight. Stitch on the line. If you are not familiar with the technique, there are several YouTube videos (just google “paper piecing”). I don’t trim up the sides yet.

As you progress, you’ll need to trim off the excess in between your seaming. Lay it out flat on your cutting surface, and crease back the template on the stitching line, making a nice crisp crease. This also helps when you rip that paper off, later.

Line up the ruler, slice off the extra. Iron the fabric down into place, then keep going until you fill up your diamond.

From the paper side, use the marking to stitch around the outside edge. Since you are using scraps, some may be off-grain and this stay-stitching helps stabilize that outside edge.

Trim. It looks sooo pretty now, but now comes the real fun!

Lay them all out. * Smile.* Since you are working in such a large scale (20 inches from tip to tip), that star really makes an impact.

Or do I like it this way? Flipping them around creates a totally different look.

I have this clever device: a hinged mirror. I place ONE diamond, set the edges of the mirror on it, and voila! My block, in reflection.

This is what it looks like from the top, sitting on top of one diamond.

Check back Tuesday for how I put the pieces together. AND. . .Don’t forget to come back on Wednesday for our thread giveaway. We have ten different bloggers participating in the Leap Day Superior Thread Giveaway.